On our music

African American religious music has had an important place in American culture from its beginnings in nineteenth-century Negro spirituals to the development of twentieth-century black Gospel music. Most scholars agree that the roots of Negro Spirituals can be found in the white camp meeting songs, but that the performance style and the changes in songs reflect the cultural heritage of Africa and the black experience in the South. Whites placed emphasis on the words of religious songs, and blacks generally emphasized the music over the words. Black religious music has been characterized by vocal effects difficult to indicate by standard notation, elaborate vocal ornamentation, frequent melodic interjections, extreme freedom and individuality in performance, strong kinetic factors in performance (e.g., shouting and dancing), heavy improvisation, complex rhythms, and call and response/solo and chorus style. Black college singers such as the famous Fisk University Jubilee Singers firmly established the Negro Spiritual during the later nineteenth century. These jubilee singers and all-black minstrel shows, along with the rise of the holiness movement at the end of the nineteenth century, constituted the roots of twentieth-century black Gospel style. Black gospel music came into its own in the 1930s with such composers as Thomas A. Dorsey adding Gospel lyrics to the blues and jazz traditions. Two nationally prominent black Gospel composers–Lucie E. Campbell and the Reverend William H. Brewster (“Surely God Is Able”)–were from Memphis. Black Gospel quartets began to flourish in the 1940s at the beginning of the golden age of Gospel music (1945-60), and Tennessee was prominent in the movement. Black quartets usually consisted of four to six voices, one of which was the lead singer. As black Gospel flourished, quartets were all-male, all-female, or mixed. In addition the tradition included larger Gospel choirs, which became a standard feature in African American church services. Modern recording and broadcasting technologies and commercialization expanded the choirs’ influence after World War II. Even as secular music influenced Gospel music, Gospel music influenced much of secular music–jazz, blues, and soul. This cross-pollination process is still bearing new fruits in many musical fields, including opera and classical music. Notes on Negro Spirituals and Gospel Music Save the African American Spiritual Fidelio Article, Spring 2001 issue. Sylvia Olden Lee, who is featured in this article, was Gregory Hopkins vocal coach and mentor. Audio history of Gospel Music